Counter offers - never accept one

As tempting and flattering as it might be, accepting a counter offer is always a bad idea.

Usually a counter offer means more money and never the solution for the problems that make some quit. People decide to leave their companies for many reasons. No opportunity for development, poor management, no opportunity to promote, no one to learn from are just some of the reasons for which people decide to leave their jobs.

When we decide to quit and go to another company we are looking for all arguments that support our decision. Simultaneously we will try and find all the advantages offered by the future work place and there is for sure more to that than money. After all this process that basically makes us see ourselves  already in the new position it comes the counter offer that offers us more money in order to stay in the current role. This is the moment when doubt might appear especially if we have been in the company for a long period of time.

Doubting is dangerous. In my opinion, the best thing to do is to take the time, think it through and when we make a decision stick with it. That is the best decision we can possibly make. We should speak with whom we have to speak, read what we need to read, ask what we don't know, never assume things and when we are ready, decide on what to do. We don't need to be worried that we have made the wrong decision.

If we took your time to think it over than that is the right decision for us. No matter what happens next we will be ready to face it because we know that we have chosen that way. There is no way to foresee the future or to go back in the past. Therefore there is no point in thinking what it would have happened if we would have made a different decision.

I strongly believe that we should only use the past in order to learn. Once we have learned our lessons we should leave the past behind and focus on what we are living right now. Decisiveness is a characteristic appreciated by everyone because it’s easy to work with people who do what they say they will. These are the persons one can trust.

If we say we quit and then we change our mind, regardless the reason, we will become an employee that can't be trusted. What is even worse is that after a few months we will realize that money couldn't solve our problems that we’ve had in the company. Inevitably the search will start again.

On the other hand we should think why do managers make counter offers?  Because they have no one in this moment to replace us with. They are just buying some time until they will find the right person to replace us with. If we accept we will be the person that wanted to leave and that they can't trust anymore. We can say goodbye to promotion possibilities or assignments of interesting projects. All studies on this subject show that 80-90% of the people who accept a counter offer leave the company in the next year.

Hesitation is dangerous in any situation and especially when it comes to changing jobs. The best thing one can do is to take the necessary time to make what the right decision appears to be and to stick with it. That will be for sure the best decision that can be made.

Problems should never come alone

When signing a work contract the bargain is that the employee will fulfill certain responsibilities mentioned in the job description against a certain amount of money - the salary. However, fulfilling those specific responsibilities it's just the basic part of the contract. 

Employees are expected to act in the interest of the company, to work with others in order to reach company's goals, to use their knowledge and energy not only to solve specific work related issues but also to help improving the existing systems, processes, procedures so that the company's goals will be achieved.

Every time a work related situation needs to be solved and you can't solve it on your own or it's not in your competency to decide about what needs to be done, you naturaly go to your manager. You expect guidance from him and most of the times you expect a solution. 


Regardless of the job title, industry or type of qualification, when it comes to problem solving, any manager would like to see the same thing from their employees: involvement and initiative in problem solving. That’s why for every problem that you bring to our manager you should also have a possible solution, a point of view, a suggestion or anything that you thought about when trying to solve the problem. 

What would you do if you were in the shoes of your manager? What makes you think so? What are the arguments that could support such a decision?

Only after answering these questions you should go to your manager, present him the situation, what you see as a solution and what your arguments are. Your solution might be wrong but that's OK as long you have arguments to support it and you learn from this experience. By doing this exercise you will get better and in time you will be able to find on your own the best solutions. 

This proactive engagement in problem solving not only shows your commitment but also your courage to express your opinions and stand for them, your ability to find solutions and make decisions. You can ask your managers to decide about certain matters or to advise you. However, it’s always a bad idea to expect from them to entirely solve your problems without your input on that. 

Even if you are at the very beginning on a new position or in a new company you can still do your best to understand the problem so that you present it as good as possible and if the experience will allow you, maybe to come up with an idea on how to solve it. If you think the solution you found it's not that good, you should still tell our manager about it and explain your concerns. Let him know that you have put effort and tried to solve the problem before taking the easy way and asking him. 
On the long term, this way of working has many benefits and will definitely put you among the people that have higher chances of being promoted.